Many small and medium-sized banks across multiple regions are consolidating and standardizing inefficient accounts, and the cleanup of dormant accounts has become a regular practice.

Ask AI · How can small and medium-sized banks optimize resource allocation by cleaning up inefficient accounts?

Reporter Wu Min and trainee reporter Lin Jiaru of this newspaper (chinatimes.net.cn) report from Beijing

Since March, multiple banks have issued announcements in quick succession to carry out centralized standardization of inefficient accounts such as those with long periods of no transactions, low balances, or mismatched information. They have clarified that they will establish an annual, normalized cleanup mechanism, with local small and medium-sized banks becoming the main force in this round of “good-night sleep” action.

Reporters noticed that although the cleanup criteria of various small and medium-sized banks differ in focus, they all point to idle accounts. The period with no transactions ranges from 1 to 5 years, covering both personal and corporate accounts.

Industry insiders noted that this cleanup effort has clear policy grounds and a regulatory orientation. It is both a response to the financial management authorities’ requirements to strengthen account management across the full lifecycle and to prevent risks, and also a proactive choice for small and medium-sized banks to cope with operating pressures and optimize resource allocation. Cleaning “dormant accounts” helps not only to address shortcomings in account management at small and medium-sized banks and prevent risks such as accounts being misused, but also to release redundant resources and focus on core businesses—achieving the dual goals of risk prevention and improved operational quality.

Differentiated cleanup standards

Specifically, Panzhihua Rural Commercial Bank began the cleanup on March 15, and established an annual ongoing cleanup mechanism. Peixian Rural Commercial Bank, in an announcement on March 16, said that accounts with no receipt or payment activity within two years and balances of 50 yuan or less would be included in the “long-suspended account” management, and would be treated as voluntary account closures. Tonglu Rural Commercial Bank plans to close accounts starting May 10—accounts with a zero balance, no active transactions for 24 consecutive months, and no related business.

In addition, in its March 10 announcement, Jiangjiang Rural Commercial Bank targeted the cleanup of accounts involving “one person with multiple accounts” as well as accounts with mismatched information. A March 14 announcement from Fujian Pinghe Rural Commercial Bank shows that it will clean up inefficient corporate accounts with no transactions for one year. Henan Gushi Tianjiao Rural Bank, in an announcement on March 17, focuses on accounts that have been managed as “long-term inactive accounts” after 2 years without receipt or payment activity, and for which the “long-term inactive” status has lasted more than 3 years (i.e., there have been no transactions moving funds for 5 years), with balances of zero for personal demand deposit accounts. Overall, the cleanup scope covers both personal and corporate accounts, with a time span ranging from 1 to 5 years, with the main goals of strengthening account management, safeguarding fund security, and preventing telecom fraud.

What is worth noting is that this round of action has clear policy grounds and a regulatory orientation. According to the “Measures for the Administration of RMB Bank Settlement Accounts” (Order No. 5 [2003] of the People’s Bank of China), if a unit’s bank settlement account has not had receipt or payment activity for one year and the unit owes no debt to the opening bank, the bank should notify the unit to complete account closure procedures within 30 days from the date the notice is issued. If it is overdue, it shall be treated as a voluntary account closure, and any untransferred funds shall be placed under “long-suspended and unwithdrawn” special account management. In 2023, the National Financial Regulatory Administration launched a special cleanup of “dormant accounts,” and in 2025 it will further expand the scope to online channels such as electronic accounts and mobile banking.

“Small and medium-sized banks have large account bases, customers’ information updates lag behind, and their identity verification capabilities are limited—making them key subjects that regulators pay close attention to.” A person from within the industry told reporters that this cleanup is not only to implement regulatory requirements, but also helps to address shortcomings in account management and prevent the risk of accounts being misused to participate in illegal activities.

Wu Zewei, a special research fellow at Sushang Bank, provided further interpretation of the cleanup background to reporters from Huaxia Times, saying, “This centralized campaign is mainly based on regulators’ continuing, deepening requirements for risk prevention and account compliance management. In recent years, regulatory authorities have continuously strengthened anti–money laundering, telecom fraud governance, and the implementation of account real-name requirements, pushing banks to reduce redundant accounts in order to lower potential risks.” He also pointed out that, from an industry perspective, small and medium-sized banks are shifting from scale expansion to quality improvement, and cleaning up long-term inactive accounts is a proactive response by small and medium-sized banks—under complex operating conditions—to the compliance bottom line and more intensive, efficient allocation of resources.

Cost reduction and risk control in parallel

This intensive cleanup of “dormant accounts” by small and medium-sized banks is not only a compliance action to respond to regulators, but also a strategic choice to proactively optimize resource allocation and achieve cost reduction and efficiency gains amid operating pressure.

Dong Shimiao, chief economist of Zhaolian and deputy director of the Shanghai Finance and Development Laboratory, told reporters from Huaxia Times that “long-term inactive accounts” involve risk hidden dangers such as funds being forgotten or misappropriated, personal information being leaked, and accounts being used for illegal and criminal transaction activities.

He believes that, based on the deployments and requirements of financial management authorities and in light of their own needs, commercial banks carry out cleanup of “long-term inactive accounts,” which has three positive implications. First, it helps financial consumers to “wake up” idle funds, improve utilization efficiency of funds, and safeguard consumers’ legitimate rights and interests. Second, it reduces ineffective occupation of bank accounts and system resources, improving resource utilization efficiency and enabling more effective services for consumers. Third, it strengthens management of bank accounts, reduces potential risks of “long-term accounts,” and reduces possible risks—for example, accounts being used for telecom network fraud.

Wu Zewei also added to reporters from Huaxia Times that, apart from regulatory factors, small and medium-sized banks are currently facing outstanding pressures such as narrowing interest spreads, high operating costs, and uneven system resource load. Large volumes of dormant accounts have long occupied core system storage space, online transaction resources, and manpower for customer service and branch maintenance, yet they cannot contribute effective business value, creating an implicit cost burden. “Cleaning up such accounts helps to release system resources and reduce redundant maintenance expenditures, while also reducing compliance and operational risks caused by account idleness, so that banks can allocate limited human, technological, and financial resources more precisely to serving active customers and expanding high-value business—achieving a better balance between cost control and risk prevention.”

Looking ahead, Dong Shimiao told reporters from Huaxia Times that banks should continue to enhance a sense of proactive service and optimize more humanized services. For example, when handling different types of “long-term inactive accounts,” banks should proactively explain the situation and flag risks via text messages, and adopt convenience-oriented measures in areas such as fund transfers and account closures to improve convenience and increase security. At the same time, he reminds financial consumers to regularly review their bank accounts and asset status under their names, strengthen risk management awareness, implement more effective protection measures in password settings and account login management, and promptly and proactively close “long-term inactive accounts” to reduce the risk of accounts being illegally misappropriated or stolen.

Wu Zewei emphasized that for small and medium-sized banks with limited resources, it is necessary to deeply integrate normalized cleanup with refined operations. “A dynamic account management model should be established using customer behavior as the dimension; balance should be maintained among the cleanup cadence, customer notification, and value preservation. Meanwhile, cleanup work should be coordinated with customer segmentation, product matching, and optimization of digital channels, so as to push operations to shift from extensive to intensive, from broad-based to more centralized efficiency.” He also suggested that ordinary depositors should regularly review accounts under their names and promptly cancel useless debit cards and passbooks. This not only safeguards personal funds and information security, but also allows them to enjoy more focused and efficient banking services.

责任编辑：冯樱子 主编：张志伟